Kaden Rivera fires an imaginary pitch to new friend Shaun Rios. Kaden, a rattlesnake-bite survivor, and Shaun, the son of a paramedic who helped save him, became fast friends Monday at Angel Stadium, where Kaden was reunited with Camp Pendleton personnel who rescued him July 5 at San Onofre State Beach park.

Monday's Angels game was special for the Rivera family of Redlands as they reunited with Camp Pendleton personnel who rescued 6-year-old Kaden Rivera following a near-fatal rattlesnake bite July 5.

Kaden Rivera, 6, and his mother, Peggy, enter Angel Stadium, where they watched the Angels beat the Kansas City Royals on Monday night. The message board flashed a big "Thank you" to the Camp Pendleton Fire Department for its role in saving Kaden from a near-fatal rattlesnake bite July 5.

Shaun Rios, 7, left, and Kaden Rivera, 6, play with a miniature Angels bat before Monday night's game in Anaheim.

Capt. Carlos Camarena of the Camp Pendleton Fire Department reunites with Kaden Rivera, 6, at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The Angels hosted the Rivera family and personnel who rescued Kaden on July 5 after he was bitten by a rattlesnake at the San Mateo Campground at San Onofre State Beach.

Kaden Rivera, 6, swats an imaginary home run Monday outside the turnstiles of Angel Stadium, 18 days after nearly losing his life to a rattlesnake bite.

Kaden Rivera, 6, meets Matt Rios, a Camp Pendleton paramedic who helped save him July 5 after he suffered a near-fatal rattlesnake bite at the San Mateo Campground at San Onofre State Beach.

The Redlands boy and his parents, Ken and Peggy, reunited Monday at Angel Stadium with the Camp Pendleton Fire Department personnel who rushed Kaden to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo on July 5 after he was bitten by a rattlesnake at the San Mateo Campground at San Onofre State Beach park.

Kaden’s 4-foot-1, 65-pound body took such a jolt of venom that his survival was in doubt for a day and it took 42 vials of antivenin to stabilize him, his father said. Paramedic Mario Moreno agreed that “life and death was something we were definitely faced with.”

Seven days of hospitalization led to further recuperation at home. Kaden’s limp has finally disappeared and his blood tests are clean.

The Angels hosted the Rivera family and four rescuers for Monday’s game, and the stadium message board flashed “Thank you” to the Camp Pendleton Fire Department in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Kaden said he doesn’t remember anything about the aftermath of the bite – how he was foaming at the mouth, vomiting, unable to speak, unable to use his arms or legs, with huge welts all over his face.

He does remember the bite itself: “It was like a pinch.”

Since San Mateo Campground is part of San Onofre State Beach and Camp Pendleton, there was ample response to the 911 call – the Camp Pendleton Fire Department, a state park ranger, state park lifeguards and Orange County Fire Authority personnel from neighboring San Clemente.

Among those who attended the game Monday was Rios’ son Shaun, who became fast friends with Kaden outside the turnstiles while waiting for everyone to arrive. The boys tossed and hit an imaginary ball at each other. Then they waved a Rally Monkey doll and a foam finger during the Angels’ 6-3 win over Kansas City.

“They were dancing to the music and having a good old time,” Ken Rivera said.

It was a far cry from 18 days earlier, when Capt. Carlos Camarena arrived at the campground to coordinate the Camp Pendleton Fire Department’s response.

“I was looking at rattlesnake, child, this small, not good,” recalled Camarena, a Capistrano Beach resident.

Kaden said he wants to return to San Mateo Campground – a little more savvy now about the sign at the entrance that warns to be cautious of rattlers.

Fred Swegles grew up in small-town San Clemente before the freeway. He has covered the town since 1970. Today he covers San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. He was in the second graduating class at San Clemente High School, after having spent the first two years of high school in double sessions at historic Capistrano Union High School in San Juan. When the new high school opened, he became first sports editor of the school paper, The Triton. He studied journalism and Spanish at USC on scholarship, graduating with honors. Was sports editor of the Daily Trojan. Surfed on the USC surf team. (High school surfing didn't exist back then.) With the Sun Post, he began covering competitive surfing from the mid-1970s, with the birth of the the modern world tour and the origins of high school surf teams. He got into surf photography and into world travel. Has surfed on six continents (not Antarctica). Has visited 11 San Clementes. Has written photo-illustrated profiles on most of them, with more in the works.

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